1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical fastening instruments, and more specifically, to surgical instruments for fastening tissue with continuous sutures.
2. Background of the Invention
As medical and hospital costs continue to increase, surgeons are constantly striving to develop advanced surgical techniques to reduce overall patient trauma. In this manner, the length of hospital stays and thus, medical costs can be significantly reduced.
In many surgical procedures, it is often necessary to fasten portions of body organs or tissue together. Traditionally, portions of body organs or tissue were fastened together by using a needle attached to a suture material to manually stitch tissue together, in order to expedite surgical staplers were developed that can quickly apply one or more lines of staples to fasten portions of tissue together. These staplers are configured for use in both open and endoscopic surgical procedures and are typically designed to apply a line or lines of staples along a set length of tissue (e.g., 30 mm, 45 mm, or 60 mm depending on the staple cartridge).
Accordingly, there is a need for surgical instruments that fasten portions of body organs or tissue together along a varied length. In particular, there is a need for a surgical instrument that may secure portions of body organs or tissue together along lengths less than 30 mm.